High bail for NH couple in child endangerment case

PLAISTOW, N.H. (AP) - A fugitive couple arrested at a Florida theme park and arraigned in New Hampshire on charges in the beating and burning of the woman's 3-year-old son had high bail amounts set Monday.

Separate video arraignments were held for the two in court in Plaistow, a town of about 8,000 residents on the Massachusetts state line.

The boy's mother, Jessica Linscott, 23, was ordered held on $100,000 bail. She appeared to wipe tears from her eyes after the charges were read. Her boyfriend, Roland Dow, 27, was ordered held on $500,000 bail.

Both have been ordered not to have contact with each other or with the child, who is still hospitalized and recovering from brain injury, seizures and burns to his wrist and fingers.

Linscott asked for a lawyer; Dow had a lawyer present. The couple had said the boy's injuries were self-inflicted and submitted videos to support that.

"The hospital staff had a chance to evaluate those videos," prosecutor Michael Zaino said. "They found them completely inconsistent with these injuries."

Zaino said the child's body was covered with bruises. "One of the bruises seems to stretch from his rib cage, the middle of his back, all the way across and around his rib cage," he said.

Linscott and Dow were arrested last week by federal marshals at Universal Studios in Orlando following two weeks on the run. They were jailed in New Hampshire on Saturday.

Zaino said the two had agreed to turn themselves in to police on Nov. 19, but instead hid in Haverhill, Mass. From there, they went to Boston, where they took a bus to New York, and then a train to Florida.

Dow is charged with first- and second-degree assault. He and Linscott face multiple charges of child endangerment. The boy is in state custody.

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